Chapter 4 ~ Collective Rights

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Transcript of Chapter 4 ~ Collective Rights

Chapter 4Collective Rights To what extent has Canada affirmed collective rights? What Collective Rights do official languagegroups have under the In a predominantly English-speaking country, French is the minority language, save for the province of Quebec, In Alberta, Saskatchewan... and any province where French is the minority, it is difficult for Francophones to keep their language strong. If they must conduct business in public in English all the time, their mother-tongue begins to die. Canada's Solution What are Collective Rights? Who has Collective Rights? What is Collective Identity? Some of the Numbered Treaties were beneficial, while others failed to affirm the First Nations. THE INDIAN ACT What laws recognize the collective rights of the First Nations Peoples? There are different perspectives on the Numbered Treaties from the different sides. The interpretation of the Treaties differed between the First Nations and the Europeans. The Canadian Government believes that by signing to the Numbered Treaties, the First Nations were signing off their land. In contrast, the First Nations disagree, believing that their ancestors did not think of the land as a possession, therefore not being The Indian Act was the main piece of legislation that greatly affected the First Nations People in Canada. 1. The Indian Act developed specific policies concerning the governance of the First Nations Peoples. There are three main groups in Canada that have a collective identity, which means they have been granted Collective Rights. They are.... The shared Identity of a group of people, especially because of a common language and culture. To honor the Francophone way of life (or Anglohpone, if in that case it is the minority lanuage), the Canadian Government granted special rights to official lanuage groups, and those are outlined in Section 23 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. by Karis Rashleigh Collective Rights are rights that a guaranteed to SPECIFIC groups in Canadian society. These rights were created for historical and constitutional reasons. They were enshrined into the Constitution, meaning that they were made part of Canada's highest law. Francophones Aboriginals- First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Anglophones Collective Rights make Canada unique. They are what makes Canada different from other countries. They were created to recognize the founding peoples of Canada, because Canada would not exist without those peoples' contributions. To What Extent Has Canada Affirmed Collective Rights? Collective Rights reflect the idea of mutual respect among peoples. This idea even shaped the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701. Collective rights are protected by Canada's Constitution. Canada's government upholds Collective Rights to the extent of enshrining it into the Constitution. Affirming the collective identity of different groups in society is an important purpose behind Canada's unique Collective Rights. Canada has passed laws affirming the Collective Rights of different Collective Identities, and they are different for each case. The Numbered Treaties The Numbered Treaties were developed originally to recognize First Nations' rights to the land, and first established the idea for making treaties with the First Nations through peaceful negotiations. The people followed this principle, because both the First Nations and Canadians wanted to avoid war as much as possible. The Numbered Treaties positively affected the First Nations by providing education, reserves, and annuities.It was a win-win situation, because the Europeans benefited as well with the chance to develop the land of North America, sharing it with the First "Nations, and made peace successfully. Negotiations are still underway between the First Nations and Canada's government. Some view the Treatiesto be outdated, there-fore calling for modern amendments to the old agreements. anyone's to 'give up' or 'take away.' These disagreements cause conflict in Canada to this day. 3. A con- it was written during the period in Canada when people thought it was good to make laws without Native consultation. This shows Canada's more colonial past, and its feelings of superiority, or, ethnocentrism. 4. The Federal Government makes the decisions concerning who should be registered as a legal "Status Indian." 5. The aim of the Indian Act was originally to assimilate the First Nations. Their rights to travel, take political action and participate in their traditional ceremonies were restricted. They even had to give up theirlegal identity until the year 1960. 6. The Canadian Government finally relented and revised the Act because of the pressure from the First Nations peoples. It is still in force today, thought many amendments have been made. 2. It affirmed the Collective Rights by creating officials for every reserve. These officials brought forward the different issues with the Treaties presented, and these were dealt with on a case-to-case basis. Charter? Canada's two official languages are French and English.

Les deux langues officielles sont le français et l'anglais minority language. English is the where infact, Section 23: says that a Franch or English-speaking minority population of sufficient size in any province has the right to publicly funded schools that serve their language community. Now, Alberta has 26 publicly funded Francophone schools. Across Canada, Francophones outside of Quebec have established 25+ school boards. Back in the day, commercial signs in Quebec were written only in French. Anglophone businesses sought the right to have the signs written in English as well. The Supreme Court passed this right and it was put into the Charter. Now, the law cannot prohibit English writing on French signs. What laws recognize the collective rights of the Metis? The Canadian Government didn't think that the Metis should have the same rights as the First Nations People. The Metis wanted Land Rights, just like the First Nations Peoples. They lobbied the government in hopes of the passing of their own land rights. Meager attempts were established, such as the "Metis Population Betterment Act," but fell through, as they hardly benefitted the Metis. By 1982, Section 35 was added into the Constitution. It recognized Metis as one of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples with rights. By 1990, Proper legislation providing Metis with settlements made permanent Metis land bases, was enacted. 1. Constitution of Alberta Amendment Act2. Metis Settlements Accord Implementation Act3. Metis Settlements Act 4. Metis Settlements Land Act Protection